(a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of fabricating a ball protective mask, more particularly to a fast processing and forming method in which an aluminum extruded material is cut into slices, which are deburred by punching and then bent into shape, and which are further subjected to annealing at a specific temperature and time. The production process can be streamlined and the masks produced have better smoothness and do not have welding points. Hence, the masks are safe to wear and are more appealing.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
A conventional method of making a protective mask for ball games is as follows:
1. Material forming: A plurality of rod-like or curved iron materials of suitable length and thickness are cut to serve as basic rods and strips for constructing a mask.
2. Welding: The rod materials are welded together by using electric welding or oxy-acetylene flames to form a reticulating web-like protective mask.
3. Coating: Immerse the welded and anti-rust mask into a plastic powder bath.
After drying, a layer of plastic housing forms on the surface of the mask.
However, such a conventional method of making masks suffers the following the drawbacks:
1. As the conventional method uses iron and steel as material, the weight is heavy. In use, wearing a heavy mask is not comfortable during the game. Besides, iron material may rust easily.
2. The use of welding is laborious, and the rate of defective products is also high. Besides, labor costs is high.
3. As the material used in the conventional method is not subjected to any special treatment, the surface strength and the shock-absorbing effect thereof are not good.
However, in the above steps, material cutting, welding and coating all require complicated manual operations, which increase labor costs and lead to higher defective product rate. Besides, the shape and quality cannot be controlled easily.
Therefore, the primary object of the invention is to provide a method of fabricating a ball protective mask to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior art. According to the invention, specially shaped aluminum extruded material is formed and cut into slices of suitable thickness, which are deburred by punching and bent into shape, thus eliminating the operations of annealing and welding. After formation, the invention is subjected to annealing at a specific temperature and time. The operation is fast and streamlined. Besides, the mask has no welding points to ensure safety during wearing.